OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this work was to determine the monomer type and the monomer ratio in a polypropylene-polyethylene blend.
ANALYTICAL STRATEGY
13C Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) was used to identify chemical structures and to calculate the monomer ratio in the sample.
CONCLUSIONS
Carbon NMR was successfully applied to determine the monomer type in a suspected polypropylene-polyethylene blend. The sample was found to contain signals for propylene, ethyelene and hexene (butyl branches). The monomer ratio in the sample was found to be ~ 74.2 ethylene, ~ 24.4% of polypropylene and ~ 1.4% of hexyl monomer. The sample is most consistent with a polypropylene homopolymer and a linear low density polyethyelene containing hexyl comonomer.
